Travel diary // Bali, Indonesia – A volcano inside a volcano?!

Hello everyone!

Today’s post is finally about Bali. I visited this place this September and you guys could enjoy my travel diaries from Gili and Lombok before, but I never got around creating the one about Bali. So today is the day it finally happens!

We arrived in Bali on the 1ste of September, where we got to spend 1 full day before heading out to Gili. We didn’t really do much that day because we were quite jetlagged. We went to the beach of Seminyak to get used to the climate and the fact that we were in Asia. We went for a local lunch. I got a curry with rice, so tasty!

We walked around in the city a bit and explored Bali a little. In the evening, we went for dinner in the city center of Seminyak. We were looking for something good and filling, because we had four (!) airplane meals so we wanted something juicy and tasty (don’t blame us) so we decided to check out the local hamburger joint, called Wacko burger. It was so delicious!

The next day we were off to Gili and afterwards to Lombok, so it wasn’t until a week after that we were back in Bali!

Ulun Danu Temple.

Majestic temples

We where so overwhelmed by the differences between Lombok (Islam) and Bali (Hindu) so we decided to immediately check out some of the beautiful temples. We went to Tanah Lot, a temple complex where one of the buildings is in the sea. The surroundings are just amazing and breathtaking. Is this even real?!

Afterwards we went to the Jatiluweh Rice Terraces. These rice terraces are Unesco World Heritage and the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my entire life.

I am so amazed by how the Balinese create all of these rice terraces with the water integrations. After that, we went for a quick lunch, and then we were off to the water palace.

In this water palace, people come to clean themselves of bad influences and other harmful stuff. You can see everybody going in the water, where they have to bathe in 12 fountains. This was very special to see. Afterwards we went to the pretty Ulun Danu Temple.

Highlights of the day

Then we were off to Besakih, the biggest temple complex of Bali. This was really a big highlight of the day (everything was, but if I had to choose, it would be the rice terraces and this). The buildings are so majestic and detailed. We also saw some Hindus practicing their faith, I felt so happy we could witness this.

After that, mount Batur was our next stop. This mount is actually a volcano. The coolest thing about this was the fact that the village, or better said a couple of villages were built inside the crater of this volcano, just because the crater is that big. And if that wasn’t cool enough, inside this crater, another volcano arose. A volcano inside a volcano, wow!

Last stop of today was Klunkung, a city at the eastern side of the island. Here, we learnt a lot more about the Balinese history. We saw a lot of artifacts about the British colonization in Indonesia. In the museum site, there was also a beautiful palace.

At night, we went to a hotspot of Bali. It was called Sister Fields. How I loved my fancy meal out there!

Instagrammable

We spent our next day exploring Bali as well. We started with a very traditional show. This Hindu show explains people a lot of things they have to remember during their daily lives. I guess you can compare it to the bible stories we knew in elementary school. I was really fascinated about this part of Hinduism.

Next we went to Ubud. When visiting Bali, this village cannot be skipped. We went to the local market where we saw a lot of traditional things made by the Balinese. Our last stop today was the monkeyforest. I was kind of frightened by the monkeys because they were very angry with some people, so we didn’t stay for that long.

For our dinner, we went to Sea Circus, another hotspot in Bali. We had a really fancy hamburger over there!

Our next day we decided to go visit one of the most hyped things on Bali, beach clubs. These clubs have the most Instagrammable meals, the coolest cocktails and the most exclusive looking infinitypools. Yeah, we could not skip out on that one! We spent our day relaxing there and eating good food.

At night, we visited another hotspot. What I love about Bali is the fact that is filled with history and traditional things, but it also has the most fun hotspots and cool places for us millennials. I really love that contrast!

So this blogpost marks the end of my beautiful Indonesia trip I had in September. It was so memorable, I will never forget this beautiful trip. I will definitely revisit Indonesia again within a couple of years because I really want to go to Sumatra and Java!